Call for Playwrights: British Council and Royal Court Theatre

British Council in partnership with the Royal Court Theatre in London will be running a long-term play development project for young playwrights. Phase one will run in June for one week in South Africa. The aim of the workshop is to support each individual participant in writing a new contemporary play. The workshop will be designed for the needs of each writer, explore individual interests, and in the end each writer will be asked to propose an outline of a new idea for a contemporary and original play.

BACKGROUND: The British Council has been working on new writing projects all over the world for many years; one of the great strengths of the UK performing arts practice is the development of contemporary writers and the support they receive in accessing audiences. One of the leading theatres working in this field is the Royal Court in London.

NEW WRITING PROJECT - ZIMBABWE

The Royal Court runs long-term play development projects in many different countries, helping to stimulate new writing and bringing many of these writers and plays to London for further work and sometimes productions. At any one time, the International Department will be working with dozens of playwrights through specific projects. Long-term play development relationships now exist through projects and exchanges with writers from Columbia, Brazil, Cuba, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Uganda, Nigeria, Syria and many more. The British Council has been a key collaborator and supporter of many of the Royal Court International programmes and is delighted to be in a position to extend this work to playwrights from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

MAKING AN APPLICATION:

The applications will be assessed by a panel consisting of representatives of the British Council, Royal Court and Zimbabwean theatre professionals.

We are looking to access emerging playwrights who have some experience of writing plays and you will need to show evidence of your track record of writing plays but you do not have to demonstrate that these plays have been published or performed.

Please send the following:

• A brief statement (motivation letter) of why you would like to attend the workshop
• A single page CV including your date of birth and gender
• One scene from a recent play you have written and a synopsis of that play
• Two letters of recommendation

Applications need to be sent via email.
Deadline: 19 April 2013 (5 pm)

You will be notified to whether your application has been successful the week commencing the 10th May 2013.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: RCZimbabwe@gmail.com

Website: http://www.royalcourttheatre.com, http://www.britishcouncil.org/zimbabwe